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So here's the drat deal: I work with Prof. Lawrence Lessig at the Mayday PAC. It's a SuperPAC that is dedicated to reducing the influence of money in politics, by raising a poo poo-ton of money. "Embrace the irony." Here's a Wired Magazine article on it: This Harvard Professor Wants Your Help to Take Over the Government http://www.wired.com/2014/05/lawrence-lessig/ And here's a video of a speech he gave in New York yesterday: http://fora.tv/2014/05/13/the_politics_of_innovation Anyway, back to the Mayday PAC. We set two goals: First, we'd raise $1M in 30 days in the month of May using an all-or-nothing "kickstarter-like" crowdfunding site. That site is https://www.mayone.us. Once again: https://www.mayone.us We hit a million in the first 13 days. Over 11,700 people gave an average of $87 in order to hit that goal. So, what does this have to do with some guy in Something Awful who just bought a forum account for the first time ever and is probably making an rear end of himself by saying "Visit my site, pleeeeeeease?" I'm trying to come up with ways that we can get the word out about the PAC, why we need to reform our corrupt campaign finance system, why we need money to do it - in short, I'm coming to Something Awful because if someone's going to come up with a crazy-rear end plan that'd actually help with convincing Americans to cough up $5M in 30 days in June, they're going to be here. Asking for your help. -- Brian Boyko Right now, my plans kinda suck. Like trying to buy the L.A. Clippers for $1.00 (if nobody else bids, Sterling HAS to sell, right?) and renaming them the "L.A. Campaign Finance Reform Advocates." Look, it's a cause I feel strongly about.
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May 15, 2014 08:00
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Okay, rough landing. 1) Most billionaires who participate in this crony capitalist system are more interested in preserving their own industry's monopoly than in preserving the actual system of corruption. Sheldon Adelson could outspend, if he wanted to, twice as much as we will in 2014 simply to defeat the candidates we like. But he's not going to because, quite frankly, he's not interested in defeating campaign finance reform, he just wants favors for his casinos. So he'll spend his millions on killing online poker, while we strike at the root of the problem. 2) I didn't come up with the name "Mayday." And it's "mayday" as in the ship is sinking, not the socialist one. And honestly, if I was in the room when names were being considered, I'd have raised hell. > (politicians didnt go to the same schools as you, they dont operate in the same social circles, they didnt have the same kinds of career. 3) Well, for one, we're being led by a professor of law at Harvard. But you're right. It's not like President Obama is a law professor... oh, wait. He is. Well, he's not a law professor at Harvard. He was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He only got his *law degree* at Harvard. Completely different worlds there. Me, I got my undergrad from Rutgers (a public university) and my M.A. from University of Texas (another public university) so... yeah. 4) I could be wrong. I could totally and utterly be wrong. But the way I see it, this may be the last big gasp of trying to work within the system we have to fix it before I start investing in companies that make canned goods and shotguns. I get the cynicism. But even if it's futile, I'm still going to try anyway. And I guarantee you that if everyone who sneered sarcastically at me and said "yeah, buddy, good luck with that," when I talked about getting money out of politics actually got off their rear end and did something about it, this would be a problem solved quickly. 5) Maybe to fix *everything* we need a constitutional amendment. But we could pass statutory reforms now that would allow politicians to break the fundraising corruption cycle and opt-into a system where they raise funds from the people. They tried it on the state level in Connecticut, and 78% of politicians opted in. I'm not saying I have THE solution. I'm saying that I'm trying A solution. And if you can't see how trying A solution is better than trying NO solution, then whatever man, don't come crying to me.
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May 15, 2014 09:58
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Look, I'm totally a dork. Guilty as charged. Ain't gonna apologize for liking fun poo poo & trying to be involved in civics.
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May 15, 2014 16:26
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